August 29, 2011

 Would you believe this is a fresh (niu) coconut frond woven into the most intricate basket?  We received this at the choir festival last night to begin the Teuila Festival. It had water, muffins and an apple for refreshment.  We sat behind gov. officials and by the Miss Teuila competitors so maybe they thought we were official too!  When we got home, neighbors said we were on TV! (purely as background to the officals).  The LDS Church had a multi-stake choir performing and we enjoyed all 8 of the choirs, plus the Police Band.  Our choir sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer (in Samoan, of course) as well as another couple of LDS songs and the message was lovely.
I am going to give you a practical sense of our
living in this blog - what our living conditions are

like.  We feel very blessed to have a safe compound to live on and nice home furnishings.
 The photo of our bed also shows the breeze blowing the curtain - our sanity as we sleep with the windows open all night and a fan blowing also.  In one of the photos you will see our lamp on the floor as the wind blows it off the table and breaks the bulb, thus it lives on the floor.  I absolutely love  my double-decker drain tray - can I fit it into my suitcase to come home?
 Roy has begun a new stake and feels the good spirit of these people as he meets with them.  He feels a little more success this time, having met with the Stake Presidency first and having them arrange the meeting to get to know the bishops
and clerks. We certainly  know Roy was called here for this specific purpose - with his computer experience as well as being able to communicate in Samoan to the people.  His whole life he has been pointed in this direction and we feel blessed that he has the opportunity to make a difference.  He studies the language daily (unlike me!) and the scriptures in Samoan as well. 

You can see our comfy furniture in the next picture - I love curling up on the couch with the breeze blowing through the window.  The TV channels leave much to be desired but we aren't here to watch TV anyway!

President and Sister Leota are wonderful people and we feel privileged to serve with them.  As of last week, I have been asked to fill in as the mission nurse until another couple can be called down.  Elder & Sister Currie left on Thursday evening to return to Utah and we keep her in our prayers that they can help her regain her health.  We certainly miss them both.  I had a quiet two days and then an elder who had been ill previously was again staying in the MRC (mission recovery center) next to the mission president's home.  I spent a bit of time going back and forth and Sis. Leota spent quite a bit of time there also, as it was the weekend.  He was well enough to return to the field today so all is quiet at this moment.  Today was p-day so we had a few missionaries come in for medical rechecks as well as a few things that needed to be bandages and advice.  I am happy being busy and I can still keep up with the other couple of thing I have on the go.  I came to do some good in Samoa and this is where I am needed at the moment. (I do hope it lasts awhile!)

On this island, we have 220 electricity and a 3 prong plug.  You can see the little red line on the
top of the switch.  It is really handy to be able to turn the plug off at the source.  The large one on the right is for the oven.
I know, you wonder why I would put a picture of the toilet - because it is the nicest toilet I have ever used for one specific reason - can you guess?  I think only people who clean toilets will appreciate the fact that this one has no little nooks and crannies to clean around the bottom.  It is all enclosed and just one swipe of the cloth does it! I know, Japanese commodes are very fancy but I love practical, good design.  It does have the double flush, which is nice and I wish I could take

this home with me as well!

Mereda in the Perth mission mentioned how she missed her washing machine from home.  I agree!  This one is brand new and still doesn't agitate like the ones we are used to.  I guess we are just spoiled but the ones I have used here and in Japan just aren't the same.  This one is actually narrower than the washers I am used to.

The little dryer is cute - I only use it to do Roy's shirts until they are unwrinkled and I hang them to finish the dry - it would never fit anything large in it.  Right outside this window you an see the large black water storage tank.  These are like the ones the Humanitarian Aid from the church were installing around the island.  We really see a lot of good that the church does here and can feel proud of our involvement in the communities in Samoa

 The last shot is of the view out the other side of the laundry room - I love looking at all the green hues, mixed with yellows and reds.  The laundry room is large enough to really enjoy.  This week I got the mostly unused snorkel equipment from the roach infested outdoor closet it was kept in and washed and bleached it all and now have it stored in our cupboards in the laundry room for any of the seniors to borrow.  Sister Erickson and I really did the roach dance trying to stomp on all the beasties that came our of the equipment!  (yes, we did it outdoors!)

I have just finished reading a small book written by Wayne Shute, Roy's first mission president.  He was quoting the Head of State at the time he (Shute) was the mission president and how he (Head of State) expressed his appreciation for the LDS Church.  We make quite a difference with the beautiful buildings we have dotted all over the islands and as he mentioned, the missionaries in their white shirts, etc. are  well know and respected.  I feel our  senior mission is quite sheltered from the everyday missionary work as we work with the members and other missionaries, but we really are the working force keeping things going while the young missionaries are the soldiers on the front line.  It is kind of like being on Trek as a Ma and Pa where the youth are experiencing so many wonderful things and we are "back up" making sure things go well.  (I know, we get a lot of blessings too but I am excited for the strength of the youth).
We leave our love with you and appreciate all your interest and concern on our behalf.

August 22, 2011

Oh, this is one of my favorite places to go.  Coconuts Resort is the starting point and we walk down the beach to a fresh water lagoon and on to where the old Samoan Hideaway ruins are (after a hurricane in the 90's).  This shot is looking backwards toward the resort.  The next shot is also along that same stretch.  Just to answer your queries, no, we don't spend a lot of time at the beach - only on p-day sometimes  (Saturday) and holidays.  This one was on Father's Day holiday (the Monday after the Sunday of Father's Day). 

I feel so at peace when I can just watch the ocean and see the wonderful creations of our Father in Heaven.  The world is his canvas and I feel privileged to be able to experience this particular part of it.  The work Roy is doing with the clerks takes him along the stretches of the island where there is less hustle of the urban area and it is wonderful.  This past week we met with the Stake Presidency of the next stake we are working in and he called a meeting for Sunday with all the bishops, councilors, clerks, etc.  Yes I felt like a fish out of water with me the only woman with all these men (like 30 of them!)  Roy just wanted them to know he has a wife even though I won't accompany him on most of his assignments.  He has lined them up on the calendar to begin next week training them and helping them understand the membership program on the computer.  Thanks goodness he only has a couple of appointments from the last stake this week as he is really sick.  He has a cough that is very deep and aches and pains.  There is an epidemic going around the island of this flu right now - we have quite a few senior ill at they say the hospital is dealing with over 300 cases (most people won't go with the flu to the hospital so we know there is much more than the media even knows about).  Hand sanitizer is my best friend and I also wash constantly and keep a sink full with bleachy detergent water for wiping things down.

Is this a crown of thorns?  It was just on the beach and I couldn't resist a picture.

Happy Father's Day to Roy - Diet Coconut, island made!

I have seen these "wooden" flowers in craft shops and this was just on the sand in an area where we changed into out suits.

Bishop Hamo Sao was kind enough to get some breadfruit out of his tree for us.  It makes the best "potato salad" - just with breadfruit instead.  The breadfruit used to be seasonal (like mangos and avocados) but one of the apostles was here and left a blessing on Samoa and the breadfruit is now year round.  It makes wonderful "chips" too - just sliced thin and fried.  If any of you come for a visit, we will make some for you!

Lance Lolo is my little reading friend.  He comes twice a week and we read and spell.  I have used lots of different media for spelling (a tray of salt - thanks Marcia for the idea), play dough, scrabble letters and I enjoy him coming. 

Last Saturday we went to Nuusutia to go in outrigger canoes with Bishop Leituala's son (Ben is in the blue on the right).  The other boys came too and the girls are just their sisters who greeted us when we got back.  We walked a lot of the way to the island in the background and rode in the canoes over the deep channel and strong current that is by the island.  We ate lunch and when we were going to start canoeing the current was too strong so we just went around the back of the island where it was calmer and paddled around.  We didn't take our camera as we didn't want to risk getting it wet so we just have this shot to remind us of our good time.  Elder and Sister Weber (the dentist here on mission) came with us and we enjoyed a nice relaxing day.  I taught the boys the "hello, hello, hello what's your name" song and it was fun to hear them singing while playing in the ocean.  We shared our food with them and they went off where there were some coconut trees and brought us some niu - the young coconuts that have the wonderful water inside to drink. 

This is the fresh water lagoon I was talking about at first - it is a river than comes down and joins the ocean.  These boys were from a Catholic church group.

This week has been nicely busy.  We got the yearbooks ready for the missionaries who left on Saturday.  I am also doing cards for Sister Leota to use for birthdays, etc.  One day I just decided to make one up with tapa, sennet and seashells and showed her.  It helps fill my time and she wants to use them for the missionaries birthdays (what triggered my doing it was her statement that she didn't know what to do for their birthdays).    We are having a sad week here - Elder and Sister Currie who came to Samoa the same day we did are going home.  Sister Currie has been ill from the time she got here and has lost well over 20 lbs.  She is the mission nurse and will be sorely missed.  Sister Leota is taking over her responsibilities until they can get another couple down here. Personally, we will miss them but know it is the best decision to return home.    We are grateful for the strength we are seeing in a lot of the people here.  At a party for Pesega 5th ward on Friday night (the English speaking ward) they must have had 60 youth on stage performing some sivas (dances) and you could see the strength they are gaining - watching them practice their dances in the park across the street and watching them attend their seminary classes each am in the same park is a wonderful thing to watch.  For FHE last night, President Leota gave a lesson on Discipleship - taken from a talk that Elder Baxter gave in a broadcast to Samoa and Tahiti in June.  In this talk, he was very specific about minimizing the cultural things that aren't really in keeping with the church standards (ie, kava drinking, physically harming your family members, avoiding excessive gift giving (fa'alavelave).  We were each given a copy of the talk to take home.  Very interesting.  Well, I must conclude this entry.  Thanks for reading it - we love to know if people actually are reading it!  and remember "go forf wif faif".

August 14, 2011

Outside the temple

As it is now O-dark-thirty (very early in the am) and I can’t sleep, I am going to begin this blog update.  What can I say? – another day in Paradise!  The dogs are finally quiet (they go to sleep about the time the roosters wake up), I heard an oxygen tank gonging in a nearby village (they do that as an alarm to the village for rising, announcing a death, calling people together in the evening for lotu (prayer and singing in their families) and I don’t know what else. 

The yearbook was completed, printed and we coil bound the two copies we needed for this week.  It was a very busy time getting the typing all done and now, we will add the new missionaries that come and just keep it updated.  We won’t eliminate any missionaries for about two years as we don’t have much of the information from the ones that have left already and were companions of the ones still here.  So, there should be about a 2 year turnaround and we had to start somewhere.  It’s just that the ones leaving in the first few months won’t have as complete a book as those further down the road will have.

A Senior couple – Taylor and Kathy Macdonald- left early Friday am as Sis. Macdonald was quite ill with allergies, asthma, etc.  The Dr. told her she was allergic to Samoa and to never come back (the pollens, etc.).  If she happened to have another attack they probably couldn’t save her.  She spent the last 3 days of her mission in Med Cen – a fairly decent but expensive hospital.  She has suffered for quite awhile and finally got to the point she couldn’t breath. Her son and his family live next door to us – they are on assignment for 3 years and I am sure they will miss their grandparents. 

Roy is beginning to make plans to move onto another Stake to help with their membership records.  The units he is working with now are in varying degrees of success – some are up and running and taking responsibility and others are just “not there” – physically.  They don’t show for their appointments and it is rather frustrating to drive the almost hour to get there and they just don’t show.  You can only do your best and keep praying for them.

I continue to help at the AhMu Academy on Tuesday mornings – help really isn’t the word I need – I read and sing with ½ class for ½ hour and then we switch, doing 4 sessions altogether.  The library at the end of the school is where I do it – open windows, smoke coming in from the neighbor’s fire, noise from every source.  But, I am getting to know some of the children and they are a delight.  The new principal has plans to move the library up by the office and turn the current location into a staff room, plumbing it with a sink, etc. That would be nice, although the nature of the school will always have windows open where dirt blows in, etc.

    

 Sister Lolo phoned last week to see if I could help her son Lance with his reading.  He is 8 years old, attends a traditional Samoan school (in a fale, sitting on the floor, learning culture as well as curriculum in Samoan).  They want to make sure he is learning his culture but needs to keep up with his English for when they return to the States, whenever.  What a delightful young man he is.  We have only had one session so far but he is just adorable – I am going to enjoy this and can use a bit of creativity in our sessions.  We read and had spelling taken from the book he chose and then used play dough to spell the hard words.  He did well, despite his friends and his brother being right outside playing basketball and at the park.

    

High School kids who washed our car to raise $ for graduation

 Our ward party to celebrate Father’s Day (today) was on Friday night.  We don’t know a lot of people to begin with and they took the men and set them up at tables along the front and I had to find my own seat.  I sat with another lady who has just moved here from Australia (Samoan) and we tried to get to know each other.  The music was SO LOUD!  The sisters had all practiced their “items” and it was really fun to watch their dancing – traditional as well as modern.  Then the FOOD arrived.  We were each given two plates loaded with chicken, taro, palusami, breadfruit, cooked bananas, sausage, scrambled egg, cabbage salad, curry, chop suey.  My food was hardly touched and I sent it home with someone else (for her dogs she said but I hope not – what a waste).  Our friends the Bullocks are on mission in Malawi and their experience with those people who have so little food just makes me want to cry.  The Samoan people are not wealthy – in fact, monetarily they are very poor, but they always have food!  I just hate to see the amount of ward budget money that goes for food – but tradition is a hard thing to break and Samoans always make enough food so everyone takes home a huge plate full.

Two of the 3 weedeaters right outside our window - the cause of a serious headache!

So, Roy has Father’s Day again today.  The first was the regular one in June, which I forgot about.  The second was last Sunday where I planned and we had gifts, a nice meal, etc.  We were sitting in church and I asked the girl next to me if Father’s Day was on the 14^th and she said yes (I clued in as there was no mention in church about it).  Well, I had been in the Saraemila ward a month ago and all of a sudden in English they said “isn’t that right Sister Harker”.  Uh, please translate what you are asking me.  They said father’s day was the 7^th and I said I had no idea.  Well, that was my only reference to go by so I planned accordingly!  Oh well, so here it really is today! We could celebrate it again in September with the Australians too, I guess.

On Thursday at the Service Center where we are headquartered, they had a devotional broadcast from New Zealand, introducing us to the Area Presidency and their wives.  It was broadcast to the whole Pacific Area, as far away as Perth and all the islands.  I wondered if my brother was watching but they aren’t involved in the Service Center so probably not.  It was such a delight to “get to know” Elder &Sister Pearson, Elder & Sister Watson and Elder & Sister Hamula.   This was the first church gathering I had been in for months that was in English!!!  Yeah. 

Well, the birds are beginning to chirp – I love the early am and the relative cool and quiet.  Afternoons and evening are quite busy with kids at the playground right across from us practicing dances, playing basketball, etc. and the Stake Center (right behind the playground) with their dances, etc.  The music from there is usually nicer than the music we had at our ward party – oh my, that was unbelievably loud and the tunes were not recognizable.  At least the Lotopa Stake Center usually plays oldies and music that makes you want to sing along.

It is about 4:00 pm now and we just returned from our Sabbath day activities – our sacrament meeting (Vaitoloa 1^st), meeting with the clerk at Faleaseela (and I visited with some of the children I sang with that day on the wall and showed them the picture I took of them), stopping at the Lotofaga Chapel to do a little business and then lunch at Bishop Leituala’s.  We had enough to feed a small army – octopus, lupe(dove) soup, complete with the dove and feet with claws),  taro, povi masima (salt beef), roast pork, chicken, two kinds of fish (one was mullet – and I got the head!), chop suey, 4 kinds of dessert (choc cake, puligi (kind of a pudding-cake - g is pronounced ng), pani popo (coconut buns that I made) and milk with canned fruit in it.  No, I don’t need to make supper tonight.

 Well, I must close for today and I will try to do a better job of posting this with photos than last week!  As the  Samoan's would say "Go Forf wif faif!"

August 1, 2011

Oh yeah - Savaii.  The trip over was uneventful and quite nice, actually.  We took Eti to his family home and then took another fellow up to Vaiola to stay with his sister.  We dropped in to see the Gouldings (what a nice couple) for a few minutes and then returned to The Savaiian, our hotel.  The food was really nice there.  While eating, I kept noticing a really nice looking lady (part Samoan) with her husband and another couple.  I couldn't quite place who she looked like but she was somewhat familiar.  While we were waiting for our food, she came over to talk to us, our missionary badges giving her the clue we were LDS.  As it turned out, we had met them in the 70's when we were living here and he was one of the pilots that flew our departure plane.  Roy had been invited up to sit in the cockpit to take pictures but alas, we had used all our film in the airport waiting room with our friends who were there.  Their names are Elva and Harry Gallagher (sp?).  What a pleasure to re-acquaint ourselves with them.  She is a cousin of Kiso Keil's.

The Krogh's live in a little house by The Savaiian hotel so we dropped into visit with them also.  What a fascinating story Elder Krogh tells of being one of only 2 survivors of a plane crash in 2004 and the struggles he had to take his broken body away from the plane that eventually incinerated. They are a truly amazing couple.

Our trip up to Falealupo Chapel the next day was interesting as we passed areas we have played at on our previous trips.  When we arrived, true to Samoan form, they had breakfast waiting for us (we had eaten at the hotel 2 hours earlier!) so we did our best and then the business began.  I was at loose ends while the meeting was taking place so I took the van down to the Canopy Walkway at the Falealupo Rain Forest.  This was my first time driving a standard shift this time round (left had shifting, remember) but it was great - shades of driving in Japan.  I took a lot of photos of the walkway and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the rainforest.  I was in the middle of reading "Nafanua -Saving the Samoan Rain Forest" written by Paul Cox so the timing of this expedition was perfect.  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Dr. Cox is the one responsible for the salvation of that rainforest and you would appreciate it after reading his book.  We appreciate Paul & Barbara's friendship and also their hospitality while we were at the MTC.  Guess what?  After the meeting they had a huge feed again!

The drive home was wonderful because it rained - and I mean RAINED!  While we were waiting in the van for Eti to do some work in a small branch, I took a picture of a fale that is a classroom.  I hope you can see it clearly through the raindrops.
The hotel was very nice with a pool that we didn't use and no beach - just a rocky shore.  We had a little visit with the Krogh's again and then retired for the night.  We caught the 10:00 ferry the next am and it was the large one, but with very few vehicles or people.  Well, the seas were rough and we tossed about like a toy boat in the bathtub while the water is running!  Roy started with the sweats and literally, he was leaning over and sweat was running off him onto the floor.  Me?   Well, I was the one who succumbed - thank goodness there was a large trash can right in front of where we were sitting.  I thought once was ok but not so, I just kept getting sicker and sicker.  When we finally got onto land and home, I laid low for the rest of the day!  No, I don't plan a trip back to Savaii for a long, long time!

We are enjoying our work at the temple here in Samoa.  Thursday evenings is our shift and we have some really interesting people to work with.  One Sister's great grandson (who is also another sister's grandson- yes they are mother and daughter) was killed in the tsunami and Sister Latu has a hard time keeping the tears from flowing.  The fellow we took up to Vaiola also lost his mother in the tsunami.  That was such a tremendous experience for all who were involved - and the results capture the hearts of all who hear their stories.

Oh what a treat we had Friday evening.  There was a concert at Pesega School in the gym featuring the "Zion Singers" (school choir) and a stake choir, both of whom were fabulous.  There were hymns as well as fun songs including Masi Samoa, 76 trombones, Quando, and I can't remember what else.  The final school choir number was a rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah that was wonderful!  I was quite impressed with the musically talent here.  Church meetings all over the island do really well without piano accompaniment when there isn't any available - they just all harmonize and have quite the power in their voices.  I am amazed also at the sacrifice some of them make to go to school.  In the village of Taga, Eti pointed out a man who walks his children to school at 5:00 am and it takes them 2 hours to reach the school!  I know seminary here in our little compound is outside in the picnic shelter at 6:00 am. (but that is their choice instead of needing a key to the church)   May our students who have lovely release time classes  be thankful!

We are heading out to Amuia's today to pick up our coconuts we took out so his kids could scrape them and then squeeze out the milk.  We just don't have the time or equipment to do it so they are quite happy to help us (we do things for them that they don't - like bake cakes, etc.)  Anyway, that is our life for this past week.  We continue to do what we can to help the work go forth in this choice land!

This is a photo of cocoa beans drying in the sun, taken at Falealupo.


School children everywhere have uniforms and these are a few from the Primary School at Falealupo.